A magistrate court in Thane, India, has granted bail to CoinDCX co-founders Sumit Surendra Gupta and Niraj Ashok Khandelwal. The court ruled no prima facie case was made against them in a $75,000 cheating complaint linked to a fake trading platform impersonating the exchange. The court noted the informant admitted the fraud was perpetrated by another party and had settled the matter, clearing the founders of wrongdoing.
The Thane magistrate court’s ruling concluded no initial case could be made against CoinDCX co-founders, entitling them to bail. The court’s order was issued on March 23 after the founders were taken for questioning over the weekend.
The magistrate recorded that the investigating officer had no objection to their release. It was also noted the applicants were not present where the alleged offense took place, and the informant admitted “some other person by representing as accused cheated the informant.”
In a March 24 statement, CoinDCX said the proceedings supported a “third-party impersonation” scenario. The company stated the fraud occurred on a lookalike site, coindcx.pro, which has no connection to the official exchange.
The judge noted the informant filed an affidavit stating another accused had repaid the cheated amount. The affidavit also confirmed the founders were not the individuals met during the fraudulent transaction.
With the matter “amicably settled” between the informant and the main accused, the court saw no risk of evidence tampering. Each founder was ordered released on bail after executing a bond worth roughly $530.
The exchange framed the episode as part of a broader rise in impersonation scams targeting Indian financial brands. It urged users to verify domains and interact only with its official platforms.
